fez &laquo; WordPress.com Tag Feedhttp://en.wordpress.com/tag/fez/
Feed of posts on WordPress.com tagged "fez"Fri, 09 Dec 2016 13:26:47 +0000http://en.wordpress.com/tags/enhttps://fromraleightorabat.wordpress.com/2016/12/04/fez-medina-in-pictures/
Sun, 04 Dec 2016 18:03:53 +0000Aliciahttps://fromraleightorabat.wordpress.com/2016/12/04/fez-medina-in-pictures/While Rabat, where I live now, is the political and administrative center of Morocco, and Casablanca the economic center, Fez (Fès in French) is instead the spiritual and cultural center. It is the old medieval capital, first founded by Moulay Idriss II around the year 800 and which reached its peak from the 13th to 15th century under the Merinids—an Islamic dynasty that ruled much of North Africa at the time.

Major cities in Morocco usually have an old-city-within-the-city, called the medina (mdina actually means “city” in Arabic). Walls usually separate the medina from the newer, French-influenced parts of the city.

The medina of Fez is one of the largest car-free urban zones in the world, and a major tourist destination in Morocco. During our NSLI-Y/YES Abroad fall trip, we spent two days in Fez, most of it in the maze-like old medina.

I let myself get lost with a camera—in fact, Kate, Catherine, and I did get lost for a few hours. Crazy tourist? Yes. But that’s okay. I loved Fez.

Bab Boujloud, one of the entrances to the medina

Date vendor on Talaa kbira, the main street tat starts at the Bab Boujloud entrance. On the left is a butcher. There’s fruit on the right.

Place R’cif, another entrance to the medina. There’s another mosque in the background.

Inside the medina. Narrow streets like this span for acres and acres. Around 8:00 when shops close, they look like the doors on the right. Everything becomes quiet.

Wood, metal artisans

Large stacks of chebakia, a Moroccan cookie made with almond paste. The almond batter is fried and then coated with sesame seeds and honey.

Talked to an artisan who makes knives. he’s wearing the shirt of his former soccer team. These are the moments that motivate me to learn Darija so that I can express my thoughts more clearly here.

Couscous from a restaurant near Bab Boujloud, with carrots, cabbage, potatoes, chicken, and some other vegetables. The sweet brown sauce on the top is called tfaya and it’s made of raisins and onions. Ate this on the terrace overlooking the medina. Life is good.

Metal working (mostly copper) in Place Seffarine, the center for metal crafts in the medina. There are also fondouks in the medina, which are places where merchants and travelers used to meet.

Narrow streets in the medina with metal crafts on display

Madrassa Bou Inania. It was founded around 1351 and was an Islamic boarding school for boys. Usually non-Muslims cannot enter religious places, but, like the Hassan II mosque in Casablanca, we could enter this former Islamic school because it’s a tourist destination now.

Former mental hospital deep in the medina, built in the 12th century. Later it became less of a hospital but more like a prison where undesirable people went. It burned down in 1944.

Right now, there are shops where the mental hospital once was.

Shops. one thing that I loved about Fes was that it wasn’t French heavy at all. French is a colonial language, and while it’s a language that I speak relatively well compared to Arabic, I definitely greatly prefer speaking Arabic here. In Rabat, even when I try to speak Arabic to people, they reply in French. It was nice to have a change.

A giant version of Moroccan pancakes, or baghrir. They have lots of holes and are made with semolina and both yeast and baking powder. They’re usually normal pancake sized, but some in Fez were a few feet in diameter and round. You usually eat them with butter and honey. I gave the vender a dirham (ten cents) and he cut me a dirham’s worth.

The taxis in Fez are red. This picture is from outside the medina.

Entrance to Riad Louna, where we had lunch for the day. A riad is a traditional Moroccan house.

Riad Louna. This is still inside the medina

Chicken

Mint leaves sold

A wall in the madrasa. There are holes, but you can’t see through them.

Outside the University of Al-Karaouine, founded in 859, the oldest university in the world

Got lost

…but had beignets

Wandered out from the medina to this beautiful view. not shown in the picture is how Kate/Catherine/I literally had no idea where we were

Outside of where a few artisans work in the medina

Producing patterns in metal. He’s worked here since he was a teenager, and lives far from the medina and takes the tobis (city bus) to the medina every day—a thirty-minute ride. Artisans work every day except for Fridays.

A component of a metal light

Unfinished patterns on copper. All this is done with a compass. #wow math

The sun sets at around 5:15 in late November. Shops in the medina close early, around eight

More pictures from lunch in the riad. Ktefa: fried phyllo-like pastry dough (the same for pastilla) layered with custard. Ahhh bnin bzef (tastes soooo good)

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Tue, 29 Nov 2016 14:00:29 +0000AnnaMParkhttps://styleunderpressure.com/2016/11/29/the-best-gift-idea-ever-customized-framed-photos-by-whitewall/https://chrism227.wordpress.com/2016/11/28/doctor-who-history-day-of-the-doctor/
Mon, 28 Nov 2016 15:18:11 +0000chrism227https://chrism227.wordpress.com/2016/11/28/doctor-who-history-day-of-the-doctor/The “War Doctor” is about to trigger the Moment-which will destroy Gallifrey and the Dalek fleet surrounding it-in a farmhouse on the planet (possibly his old house). However, the Moment is sentient-with a conscience-and an interface, which manifests itself as his future companion-Rose Tyler. It wants to have him take a look at what his future will be if he pushes the button.

Meanwhile, the current Twelfth Doctor, Clara, and UNIT, are investigating strange things at the British National Gallery art Museum. There’s been statues broken, and paintings that are now missing certain elements-and apparently broken out from the outside. To make things even more unusual, there’s a painting of Gallifrey in the Time War at the Museum-the Fall of Arcadia.

Meanwhile, at another point in the Doctor’s past, the Tenth Doctor is in Elizabethan times-with Queen Elizabeth. He decides to propose to her, hoping to uncover that she’s really a Zygon, a race of alien shape-shifters last encountered by the Fourth Doctor. However, she is the real Elizabeth-and soon the Doctor and Elizabeth find themselves pursued by the real Zygons-one of which was masquerading as her horse.

At this point, the Moment opens time portals that allow the Three Doctors to suddenly converge.

The Tenth and the Eleventh seem to get along well at least at first, but then the War Doctor-an incarnation they disavowed-joins them. They are also surrounded by Elizabeth’s men, and taken to the tower.

In the Tower of London, the Doctors converse, and discover that there’s a Zygon plot-that they’re basically imprisoning themselves in the paintings, to emerge in the future and take over UNIT’s Black Archive by impersonating them, where they keep a lot of the Alien stuff. Clara finds this out the hard way, but thankfully she’s able to use a time vortex manipulator to go to the past and rescue the three Doctors, saving them from having to make a completed calculation to modify their sonic screwdrivers to escape from the Tower (although the cell door, as it turns out, was unlocked anyway).

Marrying Elizabeth before he goes (which will ultimately lead to consequences in the past for him), the Doctors think of a plan to stop the Zygons. They ask a UNIT man to move the Fall of Arcadia painting into the Black Archive. Using the Zygon’s technology, they then meld with the painting and emerge from it as the Zygons face off with the UNIT people they are impersonating.

Kate-the leader of UNIT is about to set off a nuke to eliminate London if the Zygon’s don’t yield-she’d rather die than be invaded. However, the Doctors temporarily muddle the memories of both UNIT and the Zygons, confusing them as to which is real and who is the Zygon duplicate-and then goad them into trying to develop a peace treaty.

The War Doctor is impressed by his future selves’s ingenuity, and feels that he is now ready to do what must be done-end the Time War to save the many. But he doesn’t have to do it alone-as the Tenth and Eleventh, perhaps thinking they’ve misjudged their past self-stand with him.

But Clara doesn’t want them to go through with it. She thinks of the title “Doctor”-the Man who makes people better-and that this a destructive act totally uncharacteristic of that. There must be another way.

There is.

There’s three of them. Three TARDISes. If they can do things right, if they can calculate a solution using their combined brainpower-they can save Gallifrey by moving it into another dimension, safe from the Daleks, while the Daleks will eliminate themselves in the crossfire. The Doctor didn’t destroy his planet in the past after all-he saved it.

The TARDIses surround Gallifrey-and not just them-the Doctor’s invited all this lives to this party to help complete the moving of the planet. Gallifrey stands.

There’s even an unexpected one-a Thirteenth Doctor-with some rather prominent eyebrows. More on him later, though…

After Gallifrey is safely transported to an unknown dimension, and the Dalek fleet destroys itself, the Doctors then return to the Gallifrey. Now, the War Doctor can confidently call himself the Doctor. His future incarnations-the Ninth, Tenth, and the first half of the Eleventh’s life will still live with the guilt of thinking they actually destroyed it, as the Doctors often do not retain memories as their timelines cross. They’re unsure where Gallifrey is, or how safe it is, but at least they tried and didn’t intentionally destroy it like they thought they did.

His purpose fufilled, the War Doctor regenerates into his “ninth” self, the Doctor we met at the beginning of the new series:

After the Doctors say their farewells, and the Eleventh is alone in the Gallery while Clara heads out for a bit; The Doctor wanders if one day he’ll retire, and maybe become a curator. A booming voice echoes from the Gallery: “You know, I really think you might…”

The man is the Gallery’s curator, but to the Eleventh Doctor, he bears an uncanny resemblance to an older version of his Fourth incarnation. He reveals that the painting’s title is Gallifrey Falls No More, that the Doctor will perhaps eventually find and return to his home planet-and also strongly hints that he is the Doctor, who has somehow re-regenerated into an ‘old favorite’ and retired to becoming a curator.

As he reenters the TARDIS-free of the guilt of the Time War and his unresolved past=and now, with new hope for the future-the Doctor dreams of returning with all his incarnations.

Clara sometimes asks me if I dream. Of course I dream, I tell her. Everybody dreams. But what do you dream about, she’ll ask. The same thing everybody dreams about, I tell her. I dream about where I’m going. She always laughs at that. But you’re not going anywhere, you’re just wandering about.

That’s not true. Not any more. I have a new destination. My journey is the same as yours, the same as anyone’s. It’s taken me so many years, so many lifetimes, but at last I know where I’m going. Where I’ve always been going. Home, the long way round.

]]>https://katrinapolso.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/take-a-trip-to-morocco/
Sun, 27 Nov 2016 18:50:49 +0000katrinapolsohttps://katrinapolso.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/take-a-trip-to-morocco/If you want to take a trip of a lifetime, take a trip through Morocco. I highly recommend going with a group and with locals. The locals are extremely helpful navigating through the country and are knowledgeable. In this post, I will provide you with the six day itinerary that my group used along with a few helpful tips.

Note: Try to pack light, but be sure to pack clothing that is flowy and not revealing. Girls, cover shoulders and legs. Also try to leave plenty of room in your suitcase for souvenirs! You should return home with a lot!

Day 1: This is a day of traveling, especially depending on where you are flying from. In my case, I flew from Paris to Casablanca. Here, I recommend visiting the Mosquée Hassan II (Big Mosque). Take in the history and grab a bite to eat. After, catch a bus to Fez.

Note: Do not drink the water. This includes not eating foods such as fruits since they’re washed in the water. Always drink bottled water and yes, you have to brush your teeth with bottled water as well.

Day 2: In Fez, visit the Medina of Fes el-Bali (Old town). There are a bunch of markets that sell incredible handmade goods- from pottery to leather goods. There are other options to do too such as watching a traditional folk show with musicians and dancers. A special moment I had was being able to enter a kindergarten class and having the children be so excited for a visitor and welcomed us by seeing songs like Frère Jacques! Another tip, bring plenty of money (Dirhams) and buy an authentic Moroccan rug- they’re absolutely beautiful & a great investment.

Day 3: Remember to stay hydrated and nourished! Eat breakfast at your hotel if you can. (Note: You often can find a really nice hotel decently priced!) After breakfast, take a bus ride to Erfoud, this ride will be about 8 hours so bring snacks. (Note: A good lunch stopping point is in Midelt). From Erfoud, go to Merzouga in 4x4s through the desert to the camp site. Sleeping in the haimas (tent camp) in the Sahara desert is one of my most treasured memories. (Note: I get asked a lot if I felt unsafe sleeping in a tent in the desert of Morocco. The answer is, no. However, I do highly recommend staying in groups and with locals or people who know the area very well).

Day 4: You must wake up early to see the sunrise over the desert. It’s absolutely breathtaking. After eating a big breakfast, hop on a camel to ride through the desert towards the Great Dune- walk across an oasis. My group also was able to sandboard down the dunes! If you have the chance to do it, take it! But warning, the walk back up the sand dune is brutal. Have a bottle of water sitting up there for you ready.

Day 5: This day should be an early departure day. You’ll ride in 4x4s to Erfoud where you will catch a bus go Meknes (again, stop in Midelt for lunch). Arrive in Meknes and do some exploring (in GROUPS).

Day 6: Eat breakfast at the hotel and have a safe flight back home!

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Mon, 14 Nov 2016 10:55:35 +0000valeriestreifhttps://valerie-michelle.com/2016/11/14/let-travel-articles-guide-you/There is a plethora of incredible travel related content and advice out there now from hundreds of different travel bloggers just like me. Reading through travel blogs is one of my favorite things to do before I leave on a trip to a new place. Articles written by real travelers just like me can give me the best insight on what to do, what to see (and eat!) and any other little tricks, tidbits and tips that are helpful when crossing a new place off my bucket list.

Now there is a way to let these articles not only inform you, but also guide you while you are on your travels. GPS travel articles have specific coordinates embedded in the article, which can serve as a virtual tour guide for you as you navigate your way around a new city. With GPSMyCity, after the app has been downloaded to your mobile device, you can use it without any internet connection, which is a huge plus when you are visiting a new country beyond your mobile carrier plan.

You can access these city walks on your IOS device two different ways:

Click the link at the end of the blog post that has been turned into an app

Browse the available city articles on the GPSMyCity app and download for free, or upgrade for offline use and GPS tracking

As a bonus I am offering free upgrades of my travel article from my trip to Fez, Morocco. It is available from the GPSmyCity directory, beginning today (November 14, 2016) and ending next week (November 20, 2016).

*Note – this is a sponsored post. If you download my article, I get a small payment from GPSMyCity, which helps me to offset the massive costs I incur from running this blog! xoxo

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Sat, 12 Nov 2016 18:09:25 +0000Amalouhttps://zionlogs.wordpress.com/2016/11/12/morocco-collection/A kingdom of wonders lying in the northwest corner of Africa. The land of spice-scented mystery and medieval kasbahs, wirh a beautiful & unique culture, resulting from a Berber-Arab-Spanish-Portuguese-French melting pot, Morocco is also known as the exotic getaway on Europe’s doorstep. Explore our journey through the amazing cities of Rabat, capital of Morocco, the blue city of Chefchaouen and Fes, one of the World’s Heritage sites.

Some of my travel experiences feel like fever dreams. When I studied abroad in Barcelona, my program brought us to Mallorca for a weekend, and I was sick the whole time so my memories of that trip are particularly hazy. I picked and ate a fig straight from a tree in a stranger’s yard, and it was fresh and delicious, like nothing I’d ever tasted before. I drifted in and out of sleep on a scenic train ride, and I swam in the Mediterranean Sea in the dark, and there was a castle, and my friend got to practice her medical Spanish vocabulary by explaining my symptoms to a pharmacist. I think there was sangria at some point.

Other trips are hazy simply because of how long ago they happened. We forget the precise details of our lives, no fever necessary. It’s interesting going through my old photos and trying to recollect the events that occurred on either side of the camera shutter.

I visited Morocco while I was studying abroad in Barcelona, and I don’t think about that trip often anymore. It’s like a book I read in high school and don’t feel confident discussing with someone who just finished it. I know I enjoyed myself and found it meaningful, but I can’t remember the supporting characters’ names.

I do recall visiting the tannery, pictured above. How we held mint leaves up to our noses so we wouldn’t smell the leather being dyed and dried. I remember the labyrinth of the medina. How on our first day we found our way based on certain distinctive shops, and the following day half of them were closed; our landmarks disappeared into the walls. I remember a young man striking up a conversation with my friend and me in the middle of the street. How we went to dinner with him, and met his family the following day. We almost missed our flight because they drove us to the airport and we got lost along the way. I remember mint tea loaded with sugar and climbing a hill outside the city. We heard the call to prayer first from one mosque and then another and another until the sound was playing in a round, across the city spread out below us. I remember more from that dreamy trip than I’d realized.

]]>https://petekoufos.wordpress.com/2016/10/28/journey-to-dar-el-ma-a-love-poem-by-kristin-barnett-and-pete-koufos-part-3/
Fri, 28 Oct 2016 15:55:58 +0000PeteKhttps://petekoufos.wordpress.com/2016/10/28/journey-to-dar-el-ma-a-love-poem-by-kristin-barnett-and-pete-koufos-part-3/The ride to Meknes is lively. We can’t stop laughing. Menna loves you and laughs along with us. Everyone loves you and I love you all the more for it―the unquantifiable experienced in every gesture, every wave in your show of love and affection toward me and everyone else.

The unbearable embroidered sweetening of every moment with you forces my eyes shut. I gotta breathe, baby. Menna is more anxious to bring us to Volubilis than we are to see it.

We stop in Khemisset, pass the Baraq Mosque and get something cool to drink at Hôtel Diouri. Menna explains that we’re half way to the archeological site. I want to surprise you, and when you excuse yourself to use the ladies room, I ask him to take us first to Dar El Ma. He smiles and says yes, yes and nods. He knows something I don’t.

We walk among the lattice of archways. Meknes has been a pleasant surprise for us both. And you know damn well that’s an understatement. I was so cautious about Fez, but here, we find another experience, a district with a charm all its own, more easygoing than Marrakesh.

Our astonishment with the beauty of this place seems to have inspired Menna who waxes poetical. I was right―linear time is an illusion and in Dar El Ma and Volubilis we are existing within our own temporal poem.

This is not a ruin for us, there is more than past and present. We’re here, holistically, with a new assumption about time. Temporality reflects on our own lived experience.

Our experience of mind, body, spirit and consciousness exists within and through our having a relationship with time. There is no separation between free will and determinism, mind and body, loss and restoration, but rather a connectedness between these things.

Menna brought these places back to life for us with his vivid sketches of Roman life. He took us through poorer areas of the town where men worked on the stone presses to produce virgin olive oil by day and stopped as darkness shadowed them and they visited the brothels by night.

We sit in the shadow of a solitary arch to rest and drink. You promise me a shower rub down and couscous for dinner. It’s a quiet ride back. But we’re not tired from our long day, and the usual likelihood of me being overstimulated like a boy. We’re reflective, carefree and delighted. We don’t even notice the almost 2-hour drive back home. -PK

We arrive back into town as the 8pm sun sets. The streets are still alive with the day’s activities, but people appear to morph into effortless beings of the night as the cool breeze lowers the outdoor temperature 10 more degrees.

I had gone to the market that morning, unbeknown to you, and had all of the ingredients ready for the couscous I promised you for dinner. You give me that look, the look I see when I close my eyes and think about our times together. The times when we couldn’t wait any longer, couldn’t take the distance any longer. You look at me like there is something missing from your being―at this point, unsure if it’s mind or body―and it can only be found inside of me, where only you know to look.

The surprises of the day fill my thoughts.

After all this time, I still can’t believe what you put into our adventures, so many times―such love, such devotion. I want to keep you feeling the same. I wear that kimono. The one I bought in the vintage store in Amsterdam. The one I sent you pictures of. The one you ripped off of me when we spent that delirious week together back in February 2016.

You hadn’t seen it in awhile. Had thought about it, but put it in the back of your mind as if to surprise yourself with it later. It worked. Your heart fills with joy, your mind with memories. When it’s time for that shower rub down I promised, you know by the sight of steam billowing out of our bathroom and into the hallway where we’ve found ourselves entangled many times. -KB

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Wed, 26 Oct 2016 15:41:58 +0000chrism227https://chrism227.wordpress.com/2016/10/26/doctor-who-history-big-bang-2-0/Things aren’t looking good for the Doctor and his friends. The Doctor is sealed in the pandorica. River’s trapped in an exploding TARDIS that is also destroying the universe except for Earth. Amy has been shot by an Auton version of her fiancée, Rory Williams. Rory-who believed he was the real Rory-is cradling her, and it seems there’s no hope.

And then, the Doctor appears. Holding a fez and a mop.

Turns out that this is the Doctor from some point in the future, who has escaped the pandorica somehow. How? Well, he hands Rory his sonic screwdriver before vanishing, which is then able to free the ‘present’ Doctor (as the Pandorica was designed so that people couldn’t escape, but it’s fairly easy for somebody to get in). The Doctor and Rory then put Amy in the pandorica, which will heal her injuries.

The Doctor uses River’s time-travel device (Similar to the one Captain Jack used) to jump to our present, which, due to the stars being destroyed, is somewhat different. The Doctor once again meets the younger Amy, and they reunite with her older version and Rory-who has been guarding the Pandorica-and Amy-for millenia (As an Auton, he’s ageless) at a museum.

They also free River, who has been stuck in a time loop in the exploding TARDIS, which has been acting as Earth’s sun since all the other stars are gone. The Doctor then uses the manipulator to jump into the past, to give Rory the screwdriver to free himself.

Unfortunately, a stone Dalek-reactivated by the Pandorica-causes some trouble for our heroes, zapping the Doctor before being destroyed by River. The Doctor then goes into the Pandorica, theorizing he can heal the universe by taking the remnants of the original Pandorica into the exploding TARDIS. This will also seal the cracks in time and restore what’s been lost.

The Doctor goes backward in his own timeline, repairing the cracks. He stops by at two points to tell Amy to remember him, before stepping into a crack himself, possibly erasing himself from existence.

At the wedding, Amy’s memory of the Doctor begins to surface-and she summons him by doing so (as the cracks don’t totally erase people 100%).

“Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue”.

The TARDIS then materializes at the wedding, complete with the Doctor and his ship fully restored-and in a hat and suit.

At the reception, the Doctor congratulates the happy couple, but he’s still bothered by certain unanswered questions. River stops by, and he’s still not sure as to her exact identity, and where she fits in his life. Perhaps more disturbing-the “Silence Will Fall” voice which started the whole mess in the first place, and which destroyed the TARDIS.

The newlyweds and the Doctor then board the TARDIS for future adventures, with the Doctor answering a phone call about a mummy on the Orient Express.

“Hello? Oh, hello! I’m sorry this is a very bad line. No no no. But that’s not possible. She was sealed into the Seventh Obelisk. I was at the Prayer Meeting. Well no, I get that it’s important. An Egyptian goddess loose on the Orient Express. Yes, your Majesty. We’re on our way”.

We passed through the grand Blue Gate, into the medina. We were in Fes, Morocco, just starting our time and getting to our hostel. The owner, Aziz, was so nice and hospitable. He even invited us to his house to see his family. He has a toddler, whose name is Adam, and an adorable little baby. Aziz has tons of live chickens upstairs. I tried to approach them and scare them, but something went wrong. Five chickens left the room, and ran all over the house! Three of them were chased back into the room, while the I picked up and carried the other two, one at a time. It was quite an adventure for Adam! Aziz also helped us get a tour all around the medina, or old quarter.

Overlooking the Tannery. It stank!

We saw loads of things, including a tannery, and some beautiful courtyards. A tannery is a place where they make leather. And from what I’ve seen, they STINK! I’m not kidding. The tannery we visited smelled like a massacre. It was so strong, I had to go back into the shop. Ew, ew, ew, ew, EW!!! I’m normally not the one to be grossed out, but that place REEKED. There’s nothing to compare it to, the death-smell was so strong. I saw them scrape the skin from fur, and… it was just so gross. But the grossness didn’t last.

We saw one beautiful court that belonged to a madrasa, basically a high school, but in Arabic. Tiled mosaics were everywhere. We also peeked through a door on the side of the street to see… an absolutely stunning mosque. It was so big, and covered in lavish quartz. The light bounced all around and dazzled our eyes. Wow! We had a fun time in Fes!

Hiking in Akshour national park with traditional Rifian hat for the day

While Serena and I visited my host family in Fez, we ate tagine with the entire extended family on the roof at 12am one night!

eating shuwa (barbecue) at my site!!!

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Fri, 14 Oct 2016 06:28:09 +0000kkampanihttps://2daystotravel.wordpress.com/2016/10/14/intrepid-travelers-road-tripping-in-morocco/Our first real adventure in the continent of Africa and we coundn’t be more excited for it!

After a hectic 24 hours in Barcelona, we flew to Marrakesh on Ryanair, at 7.30am to make the most of our first there in the new country. At $45/seat, it was a steal! A quick 2 hour flight later (Morocco is 1 hour behind Spain), we were in Africa! Disembarking from the plane, directly onto the runway (!) we could walk right up to the terminal building.

The heat was almost tangible as it settled on us, giving us a taste of what the next few days would be like. The Riyad (hotel) had arranged for someone to pick up us- which is recommended, since with the number of people offering taxis right outside, you’re never sure where you will be taken and how much it’ll end up costing you once you get there!

We spent the day in Marrakesh, the experience was an assault to all senses- it was hot, loud, smelly, bright and colorful – and reminded us strongly of home! The people did not leave you alone for a moment- there was always someone to sell us something or direct us to the next tourist spot, or just to ask if we were from India and say Namaste! More about Marrakesh in the post 2 days in Marrakesh.
The next morning, we were driven back to the airport where we picked up our car for the next 3 days. While extremely cheap (we paid no more than $200 for 3 days), the car came with no frills, at all. The doors and windows were manual and there was no air-conditioning or GPS. Google maps also doesn’t let you download Morocco road maps offline, so this was going to be an extremely interesting few days. Also as we discovered very soon, while in theory all the roads are named or numbered on the map, there are almost no numbers on the road itself! Most of them are labeled with the next big city, so thats something to watch for as well. Finally, while we were happily using T mobile all over Europe, it isn’t free in Morocco, so no turn-by-turn navigation. Undaunted, we decided to drive around the country for the next 3 days! On the bright side, the roads in Morocco are good and well maintained, so it wasn’t a bumpy ride.

First stop- Ozoud Falls. They are the most photographed falls in the country and make a nice day trip from Marrakesh. Getting out of the city proved to be quite a task, there was the manual car to get used to, rules of the roundabouts to learn and lots of motorcyclists to avoid. Our brave and fearless driver rose nobly to the challenge and we left the city and reached Ozoud with no unpleasant events.

The falls themselves are quite pretty and fairly touristy. We chose to look at them from the top only, instead of hiking to the bottom and taking Morocco’s version of the “Maid of the Mist” tour, since, as always, we were pressed for time. Lunch was delicious, in a small local restaurant. Read more about our food and drink in Morocco in our blog here.

Our next aim was to get to Fez, in one piece, and hopefully before nightfall. Our fairly smooth journey was interrupted just once, when we were pulled over by the local traffic police, for crossing a solid white line to overtake the slow car holding up our progress. While blogs from other tourists had warned us that the police tended to focus more on tourists, actually being pulled over was a completely different experience. We spoke no Arabic and only enough French to ask if they spoke English, so communication was minimum. They asked for our passports and the papers of the car (which we understood) and we sat with bated breath, awaiting our fate. This is one of the few times when the Indian passport has worked in our advantage- since on realizing that we were “Hindi” (the Arabic word for Indian), they disdainfully let us go, warning us not to do it again. I’m not sure how different things would’ve been, if we had had American or European passports, but I’m very glad we didn’t have to find out! Of course, we have no photos from our brief brush with the law, but I’m sure if we did, our faces would be quite a sight to behold!

Getting to Fez took us across the High Atlas mountains with spectacular views of verdant valleys and sandy brown mountains.

By nightfall we were close enough fortunately and had only a long stretch on the well lit A-road (motorway with toll) so reached Fez in good spirits, around 9pm. The airbnb we had for the night was supposed to be a palace that was being restored by the current owner and finding it was another interesting task! When we finally did, it was at the end of a single lane, extremely windy road that would’ve been impossible to navigate without our host. After all the effort, it was totally worth it- the place was indeed a palace and we had an entire wing (the red palace) to ourselves! That night and the next day were an adventure of their own- read about it in our blog post dedicated to Fez.

Chefchaouen, which is Berber for “look at the horns” since the mountain tops around the city look like goats’ horns, was the next destination and was a 4 hour drive away, so we left around 3pm from Fez, again to attempt to make it there before it got dark. The road leading out from Fez was a 1.5-lane state road, which meant when a vehicle approached us, the smaller of the two would have to drive onto the verge to let the other pass. This made for 1-2 unnerving hours of driving for our brave and fearless driver, but he manfully drove on. This time we cross the Riff mountains and saw vast stretches of darker mountains with taller darker trees- quite beautiful to behold.

We also had some interference from the local wildlife, but nothing much to worry about!

Our first sighting of Chefchaouen, disappointingly did not show an entirely blue city, but it was pretty nevertheless, nestled in the middle of towering mountains.

In the evening, exploring the old city gave us our fill of blue-ness of Chefchaouen.

Our final long drive was to Tangier airport, and was the least picturesque of the drives. A great breakfast of the local goat’s cheese and bread made up for it a little!

The roads, as we had seen so far, were quite good, with long stretches of highway that allowed us to reach our destination well on time. Tangier airport was a surprise- it was so windy that it was quite difficult to stand up straight, handling any luggage was another challenge altogether! Here, we returned the car, bid good bye to our faithful companion of the past 3 days and took a cab to the port to get on the ferry to Algeciras.

This is where the next brief adventure began, since halfway to the port, we realized that the one we were headed to, wasn’t the one we needed. The boat to Algeciras was to depart from Tangier Med and that was 50km away from Tangier city, which was where we were! Our cab driver, fortunately (and after promising a payment of 40 Eur) agreed to take us there- thus our road trip continued!

The drive from Tangier to Tangier Med was along the coast and gorgeous!

Relieved, and a little wrung out from all the adrenaline, we boarded the ferry to leave Africa and continue our explorations on the next continent!

Morocco- you were beautiful, unexplored, unexpected, raw, exciting, exhausting, overwhelming and we loved every minute!

Back in May this year I had the brilliant idea of booking a holiday to Morocco.

Then I looked on Sky Scanner… return flights to Marrakesh £350, which is not bad at all but when you’re a twenty something trying to survive in London on minimal pay that’s the kind of price you want to be paying for the entire trip.

I’m a big fan of Sky Scanner so I knew not to give up so easily, I just needed to experiment with dates and cities. I’d heard from several people that Marrakesh was essential to visit but you could see it all in three days so I decided to do a tour of Morocco.

Flight into Fez… £35

Flight out of Rabat… £28

Total cost of flights to Morocco… £68.

Much better.

So I decided, my mission was to try and make this 10 day tour within the budget that those flights to Marrakesh would have been (because according to my twisted logic that makes it a free holiday). 10 days and 5 cities. The only logical way to do the accommodation; Air BnB.

This was my first experience of Air BnB. In this post I want to share with you my experiences, the good the bad, the funny and the awkward.

Air BnB is a brilliant app of course. It’s heavily advertised as being a tool which travellers can use to experience a new city like a local.

I’ve heard a few horror stories of people booking a room expecting it to be an entire home or at least a real bed just to find out that their staying on a sofa bed in the middle of an open plan kitchen area trying to have a lye in when the home owners are getting up to go to work!

My experience of the app in Morocco was the exact opposite however. Instead of joining the spare room of a local all of the rooms which I booked were actually in existing BnB’s.

1. Fez.

Arriving in Fez was like going back in time.

Our riad was in the old town, no car could possibly get through those streets so the taxi pulled up outside the old gates and a guide had to walk us through the ancient maze to our home for the next couple of nights.

Walking through Fez as a young, white, female felt a lot like that Mean Girls quote: “have you ever walked up to people and realised they were just talking about you?”

When the guide left us at the front door it was pretty obvious, we’d never ever remember the way back.

The owner of our Riad was actually a British man named Mark, who’d given up his city banker job to run treks into the Moroccan mountains (legend). We didn’t get to meet him until the second night so this associate, S’Mohamed invited us in.

He was very hospitable, as is tradition we were greeted with a sugary mint tea.

The riad was stunning:

I highly recommend staying in this riad – https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/2029365. The hosts were very helpful, advising us to download maps me, but also to enjoy getting lost in the old streets.

We followed a city walk which was in the lonely planet Morocco guide. I say ‘followed’ it’s pretty hard to follow a map in this city but that’s all part of the fun!

Comfort 5/10

Location 10/10

Cost 10/10

Host 10/10

Overall Air BnB rating 35/40

2. Marrakesh

The great thing about the Air BnB app is that you can message and call your hosts via the app before you visit (if you’re brave enough to turn your data on in Morocco). We were able to arrange a transfer from the train station to the riad. After a 10 hour train journey between the cities it was dark when we arrived at the next riad – https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/9638299.

Marrakesh.

Where to I begin to explain Marrakesh.

There’s so much hidden beauty in the un used streets, temples, gardens and then in the centre of it is a busy souk filled with European travellers, cheap imitation handbags, snake charmers and people selling juice.

The riad was a quiet and blissful escape from the madness of the streets.

The room was around twice the price of our Fez riad but Marrakesh is a more popular destination so it was to be expected.

The owner was pretty elusive, and not nearly as friendly as Mark and S’Mohammed. There was a bit of confusion over breakfast, we thought is was complementary as with the previous BnB but when we left he demanded we paid. Of course I don’t mind paying for breakfast but the lapse in communication led to a pretty awkward exchange.

Comfort 7/10

Location 9/10

Cost 7/10

Host 5/10

Overall Air BnB rating 28/40

3. Essaouira

Essaouira is three hours from Marrakesh via bus. It’s known as ‘The Wind City’, the high winds and beautiful beaches make it popular for surfers and other wind sport enthusiasts. The old port town is still in operation today as it would have been thousands of years ago with fisherman busying the waterfront haggling over the catch of the day.

Our BnB was not easy to find. Our host Anne left very vague instructions ‘metres from the big blue door’ … there are MANY big blue doors in Essaouira. The confusion was not helped but the fact I was sleepy, hangry and very hot.

We went into two different BnB’s asking if they’d heard of ours, nobody knew.

The owner, Anne, was very helpful upon arrival. She upgraded us to a better room for the same price as the riad was empty apart from us. She told us the best places to go, explained the culture and some of the history of the town.

The price was pretty similar to the Marrakesh riad, which makes me think that Fez was just an incredibly cheap destination. I highly recommend going to Essaouira, EasyJet now flies direct! The majority of tourists there were French, there was a very laid back beach bum vibe.

Comfort 8/10

Location 9/10

Cost 7/10

Host 8/10

Overall Air BnB rating 32/40

We didn’t stay the night in Casablanca or Rabat so that’s the end of my Air BnB adventures in Morocco, including the flights, trains, taxis, buses and accommodation I managed to book a ten day tour of Morocco for £241 per person.

Not too shabby ;)

And I couldn’t possibly of had it all so organised and felt so prepared without the help of the Air BnB app. Thank you Air BnB and thank you to all the wonderful hosts who helped me on my adventures!

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Mon, 10 Oct 2016 22:35:46 +0000awaywithrvkhttps://awaywithrvk.wordpress.com/2016/10/10/fez/As far as Morocco’s oldest Islamic cities go, Fez takes the hat (pun intended because of the red felt ‘fez’ hats worn in Morocco). The city of Fez can be found in a scorching hot valley nestled between the Riff and High Atlas Mountain Ranges. As we arrived in Fez we were smacked in the face by a sweltering 90 degrees of heat. We checked into our hotel and headed into the ancient Medina for lunch. We ate at a restaurant called the Clock Café, a modern take on traditional Moroccan food. While some of my friends sampled camel burgers and almond smoothies I dove into a plate piled high with falafel and hummus. I do have to say that I am severely disappointed by the fact that falafel and hummus are in no way shape or form part of the Moroccan cuisine. After lunch we began a guided tour through Fez. We first wound around the old medina walls to the top of one of two castles overlooking Fez. We stopped at the top of the North Castle and had a beautiful panorama view of the Old City. (In Morocco the Old City is typically described as the Medina and is home to people and the markets or souks that are characteristic of Moroccan and Arab life.) We learned that the Fez medina has 10,000 streets and 350,000 people living in it. This is almost unfathomable in scale until you are in the heart of the medina at the Quaraouiyine Mosque. For Arabs the mosque serves as more than just a religious center, its Arabic word jam’aa has its roots in the word jmaa which means ‘to gather’. The Mosque is both a religious, educational, and communal place. Connected to the Mosque is the University of Al Quaraouiyine which is the oldest, continuously operating university in the world. It was founded in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri. It is currently the largest Muslim university and is revered for its Islamic studies.

In addition to seeing the university we also went to a traditional pottery and mosaic shop. We watched as men and women crafted beautiful clay tagines, painting them with natural colors. We saw an “assembly line” of craftsmen chiseling different pieces of tile to hand-lay for exquisite mosaic pieces. Aside from pottery and mosaics, Morocco, and specifically Fez, is known for its leather. Fez has the world’s oldest tanneries. While interesting to see the process, it smells like shit. Pigeon poop and cow urine are used as natural solutions to easily strip the fur form the hide without having to use a knife and potentially damage the skin. Because of this the whole city of Fez reeks. What we did learn though, is that even though Fez is known for its leather, the Rabat Medina has the best prices for leather goods; since the prices aren’t jacked up for tourists.

Overall I wasn’t the biggest fan of Fez. While the newer parts of the city are nice, due to the influx of tourism; and the medina streets of Fez have benefited from a massive renovation project from UNESCO, the city overall made me feel very uncomfortable. Perhaps it was the over-powering sense that any wrong turn in the medina meant that I would be stuck in a labyrinth of winding streets doomed to never escape, or the fact that the Fez medina has a pretty high crime rate, I did not feel that comfortable in the city.

On our way home the next day we took a trip into the mountains. We visited the city of Ifrane. Upon arriving in Ifrane it was like we had driven into another country. Ifrane had an abundance of green foliage and quaint red-stucco roofed buildings. Ifrane looks nothing like any other city in Morocco. It was a welcome change, and I plan on visiting the city again…mainly because Ifrane has one of two ski resorts in Africa in it. Ifrane also has a national park called al-Hajeb and in this park are little monkeys. They just roam free, taking food from tourists and swinging from trees. Walking through both the park in the mountains and I

Wandering through the Medina in Fez, you see craftsmen of all sorts at work, their workshops often open right onto the narrow alleyways. The leather tanneries are slightly less accessible; you’ll smell them long before you see them. The tannery works can only be seen from upper floors of the leather shops that surround them.

It’s best to go in the morning when the dying is done. Looking down from a 2ndor 3rd floor terrace, you’ll see rows of earthen vats, some filled with cow urine, lime and pigeon poop, some with all natural dyes made from plants and minerals – reds, blues, greens, black, browns – and workers thigh deep in the vats, working the submerged hides with their feet. (Yellow dyes are made with saffron and, because of their relative expense, are applied by hand.) You’ll see goat, sheep, cow and camel hides stacked around waiting to be dyed or hanging on racks and walls drying in the sun. You’ll smell the cow urine, which, together with lime, breaks down any fat and hair remaining on the hides. You’ll smell pigeon poop, which is used as natural softening agent. It’s really stinky, I won’t lie, but you will be armed with a sprig of fresh mint, which will take the edge off. The entire process is done today as it has been for 1,000 years.

On the way out, you will be encouraged by the shop keepers to buy something but it’s not required. If you’re so inclined, the leather is very high quality and, since you’re right at the source, it’s a good value. If you’re a good bargainer, you should get away paying half or even a third the sticker price.

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Thu, 06 Oct 2016 21:35:00 +0000SoulX117https://iamgamedevcalvinoh.wordpress.com/2016/10/06/thoughts-on-indie-game-the-movie/Indie Game: The Movie was an exceptional film that really showed the life of an indie game creator, through the eyes of several famous indie game creators, such as Edmund McMillen, Tommy Refenes, Phil Fish and Johnathan Blow. The games they touched upon were Super Meat Boy, Fez & Braid. The movie touched upon the hardships, the depression, the desperation and the successes; the experience of the creators and their journey from beginning to end.

My own thoughts on the indie scene before watching was that it was difficult, to be able to create your own game and that the people who can do this are amazing and really good at what they do. But after watching the film I realized that the creators are human, and like most people they have to work very hard, long nights and many years to get where they are now. This showed me that the indie scene is way more difficult and much tougher as everything has to be done essentially by yourself. But the freedom and the ability to create what ever comes to mind, is a wonderful trade-off. I always thought that indie games were made quickly (1-2 years) but when watching I saw that they took much longer to create them, and this surprised me; as now I wonder to myself whether I can even have the focus and determination to create my own game.

I definitely enjoyed watching the movie, as it gave me a new view on the indie scene, as well as allowed me to think about my future as a game programmer. I really feel scared and excited at the same time. The fear of failure versus the enjoyment of success, that is what I am feeling after watching this movie.

The movie did not really change my view on game development, rather it expanded my view on it. I did not have much experience or knowledge about the game development, expect what I have learned from different classes. But after watching this film, I was able to get a better understanding of the indie industry; even just a bit. Which this knowledge I better understand what I am getting myself into. My view on game development has alway been, that a game should be created with the intention for the players, and watching the film it reassured me that this view is the correct one. It really doesn’t matter how much money one makes, but rather how many people enjoyed playing the games. The smiles, the frustrations, the emotions of the gamers are what makes making games worth it. (Money is a great side benefit though)

Overall, my view on the indie scene has expanded way beyond what I imagined before watching and I have once again found the reason why I wanted to become a game programmer in the first place. The inspiration and the experience the creators in the film have gave me is 100% worth rewatching.